Chapter 981 No Time for Politeness

Having said that, comrades all know that if development is not fast but keeps on developing, it will eventually reach an unacceptable level.

Gao Zhendong also roughly understood that the water from the hanging river originally did not enter the basin of this reservoir. It was just an accidental breach in an unexpected place that caused the reservoir to accept water that was not within its design conditions.

"Fortunately, it is the dry season now. Whether it is the unexpected inflow of guest water or the runoff that the reservoir is supposed to store, the flow is not too large, so the water level of the reservoir is not rising quickly, leaving us with more time."

Some comrades were a little puzzled: "If the amount of water is not large, it can flow away through the spillway of the reservoir and there will be no danger."

The comrade at the water mouth smiled bitterly: "Although it is not large, that is for the flow of the hanging river during the flood season. The actual flow still exceeds the designed flood discharge capacity of the reservoir spillway. Fortunately, this hanging river is not the main stream of the Hunhe River, otherwise the situation would be more serious. And it takes time to block the outlet of the hanging river. The current situation is that before the flow of the hanging river is controlled, this side may overflow. It is an earth gravity dam."

The earth-gravity dam overflowed? This made all the comrades gasp.

It is not as simple as letting the water flow away from the top of the dam. The back side of the dam will soon be hollowed out due to the downward digging of water, and a collapse is almost inevitable.

Another expert who was probably also an expert on the water outlet was even more confused: "Then if we add the draining of the bottom holes, that should be enough, right? I see that this reservoir has many bottom holes, and the discharge capacity is not bad. At least it can delay time and give the outlet more time to be plugged."

Many reservoirs have bottom holes for emptying, with fewer or smaller ones in small reservoirs and more or larger ones in large reservoirs. They are mainly used to completely empty the reservoir and can also be used for sand flushing. Generally speaking, the discharge volume is far less than that of the spillway, but it is also a good supplement under high pressure.

A water outlet expert who should have calculated the relevant data at the first time interrupted: "In theory, this is the case. We have calculated that, combined with the discharge capacity of the bottom hole, it can basically give the plugging side more time. With the efforts of the comrades on the plugging side, it should be able to control the situation."

No one is optimistic about this matter. Since we are talking about "theory", there must be "reality". Judging from the reaction of the comrade who knows the situation best, the reality may not be optimistic.

Sure enough, the comrade continued, "But at the time of the incident, all the venting bottom hole inspection gates were closed for equipment debugging, and the guest water came with great force, and the incident happened at night. When the comrades had no time to react, the rising water level directly pressed down the inspection gates that were being debugged. This inspection gate is designed to be a pressure-free gate and cannot be opened when there is pressure."

"Then we have to lower the working gate, seal the space behind the pressure reducing gate, and then balance the water pressure before and after the inspection gate. Then we can open the inspection gate, right? And then open the working gate. The working gate can't be a pressure-free gate, right?" Everyone on the plane is an expert and they know these things very well.

"Yes, even if the inspection gate cannot be connected to the upstream water body, it is not a big problem to directly use a pump to fill the inspection gate well with water. The well is not very big and can be filled quickly."

“The reservoir is almost finished but not yet complete, and the working gates are not in any working condition at all. There is no way to improve this situation in a short period of time.”

"Hiss~~~~~~"

All the comrades realized the seriousness of the problem, including Gao Zhendong who didn't understand it very well. The working gate couldn't be lowered, and a closed area couldn't be formed behind the maintenance gate, which meant that no matter how much water was poured in, the water pressure before and after the maintenance gate couldn't be balanced, and the maintenance gate still couldn't be raised.

That is to say, in a short period of time, these bottom holes cannot be opened at all.

This is serious, and the probability of accidents suddenly rises to an extremely high level.

This incident was caused by a series of coincidences under the natural disaster, and can be regarded as an extreme example of Murphy's Law.

Murphy's Law: When you think something might go wrong, it will definitely go wrong.

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Comrade Shuikou said, "This is roughly what we know about the situation now. Don't worry, we will brainstorm when we get to the scene and we must resolve this dangerous situation."

The plane roared forward in everyone's silence, almost reaching its maximum speed.

Finally, the plane stopped at a runway that looked like a field airport. Several cars picked up the comrades on the plane and sped away. It was too late, get in the car quickly!
On a high ground several kilometers away from the reservoir dam, comrades sat in a conference room and listened to comrades on the scene introduce the situation.

"...After joint investigation by local and military comrades, it will take at least six days to plug the breach, and that's if everything goes smoothly and the comrades are fully committed to mobilizing all their forces...Now the comrades over there are not waiting and are already fully engaged in the task of plugging the breach."

This certainly cannot wait. No matter what decision the experts make, it will not affect the early and rapid implementation of the plugging work.

"…and given the speed at which the water level rises, even if we take into account the reduction in flow during the plugging process, it will still overflow the main dam in about four and a half days…"

Main dam? Gao Zhendong and his comrades at Shuikou, who knew a little bit more, realized that the situation seemed to be more complicated than what they heard on the plane.

Sure enough, they learned even worse news.

“The most serious problem now is that in two days, the water level will reach the bottom elevation of the auxiliary dam, which has not yet been completed and the dam grouting and other processes have not yet been completed!”

An expert from Shuikou almost swore: "What? There is an auxiliary dam? And the grouting of the dam body has not been completed yet?"

This question is full of information! Even Gao Zhendong covered his head. Fuck! ! !

The auxiliary dam is a section or multiple sections of the dam body that are independent of the main dam. It is often used to block small gaps outside the main dam that are lower than the water storage design requirements. The elevation of its dam bottom is generally higher than the elevation of the main dam bottom. If there is a problem with the auxiliary dam, it is not just the auxiliary dam itself. If the height difference is large enough, the mountain or soil below the auxiliary dam will also be taken away, forming a larger breach.

Grouting is a common method used to enhance the anti-seepage capacity and strength of the dam body. We began to introduce it from the Russians in the late 50s. The auxiliary dam probably has a relatively high dam bottom elevation. In addition, it is currently in the dry season, so the actual construction time was originally sufficient, so some processes such as grouting have not yet been completed.

But these things added together mean one thing, that is, in two days, the water will soak into the auxiliary dam, and the construction process of the auxiliary dam has not been completed. Even if it has not overflowed the dam, the soaking alone may cause an accident.

"Does this mean that the auxiliary dam may experience water seepage, pipe bursts, and other problems at any time when it is soaked? Or even a bigger danger?" The leader of Shuikou looked extremely serious.

"Yes." The local comrade gave an answer that no one wanted to hear.

In other words, comrades must solve the problem of soaking of the auxiliary dam within two days and the problem of discharge of the main dam within four and a half days.

This is really a tight time schedule and heavy task.

"Grouting immediately?" a comrade asked. There was no time to talk about anything else now, so we had to communicate as quickly as possible!

"No! Before the grouting solidifies, the grouting pressure may cause certain damage to the dam body. From the time point of view, it is too late!" An expert immediately rejected his proposal. There was no time to be polite at this time. The most direct and efficient way is to do it!
Gao Zhendong also broke his usual habit of listening to his comrades speak, giving full play to their ideas, and then speaking himself. This matter cannot be delayed, and he must bring out his ideas as soon as possible and use them immediately if they can be used!

It is no exaggeration to say that every second counts here.

He immediately raised his hand: "Comrades, I have an idea."

The other comrades turned to him. Huh? Comrades sent by the Defense Work Committee and the 17th Ministry of Machine Building, experts in metalworking and explosives, also brought blasting experts and other accompanying personnel.

This is the water engineer's business, does he have any ideas?

"Speak!" Shuikou's leaders didn't care about being polite. Now they had to listen to any opinions, but they had to listen quickly! No matter where they came from or what their major was, if they were sent by their respective ministries, they must have real skills.

“Use geomembrane!”

"Geomembrane?" This technology exists at this time, but it is not perfect and has probably not yet been used in China.

In fact, directly covering the surface with geomembrane is not a complete construction method, but this is an emergency measure, and it will be fine as long as it is useful and can be used for a period of time.

"Yes, use canvas to cover the surface of the auxiliary dam to form a temporary anti-seepage layer." The reason for using canvas is mainly because it is the easiest to find.

"What should we do if the canvas itself is water-permeable?" Canvas itself is water-permeable, and the comrades and Gao Zhendong began to ask and answer questions quickly.

"Spray polyurethane on the surface." It can temporarily enhance the canvas's anti-penetration ability.

“Where does the polyurethane spray liquid come from?”

"The army has it. I know where I can get it. It's still in time for an airlift." The polyurethane foam used for heat insulation on the plateau does not have a foaming agent, so we can use it for now.

"Where can I find such a large piece of canvas?"

"The army's car tarpaulin! I've seen it. This is a plain reservoir. The auxiliary dam is not long or high. Using a car tarpaulin does not require too many stitches to connect."

The auxiliary dam is only a few meters high, which is a piece of cake for the army's car tarpaulin. The plain reservoir dam is very high, and the auxiliary dam is even lower.

“How do you sew quickly?”

"Use flat head rivets, long overlaps between canvases, double or even triple rows of rivets, and spray polyurethane or other adhesives in the middle."

“What should we do if there is still a small amount of water seepage in the auxiliary dam?”

"We used the grouting slurry that we already had but could not use to spray it on the surface of the auxiliary dam to further enhance its anti-seepage capability. Whether it is concrete slurry or chemical slurry, it dries faster on the dam surface."

"How to deal with the water backflowing into the geomembrane after the bottom connecting vessel principle?"

(End of this chapter)